When a wealthy industrialist is murdered in Mississippi, the bigoted local sheriff is quick to accuse a black newcomer to town - only to learn his suspect is a highly respected homicide detective from Philadelphia. However, the duo are forced to put aside their mutual loathing and team up to track down the killer. Oscar-winning drama, starring Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger and Warren Oates.

African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.